Ioper
8hr ago
Also, for the vast majority of the world (and American states), including Russia where Orthoxerox lives, what constitutes a sexual minor is someone who is 16+, which is literally the latter half of the teens.
Stefferi
Chief Suomiposter
8hr ago
The modern-day anarchists and anarchoid types (not formally anarchist but obviously influenced that way) have rather clearly abandoned the goal of overturning the society totally and replaced it with the one of "existing in the cracks", ie. assuming that the regular square society will still exist in some form and they can get on by with various forms of leeching.
Stefferi
Chief Suomiposter
8hr ago
If there was an actual collapse of the society with warlords roaming about, these would be more likely to be independently-operating army officers a la Chinese warlords of the Warlord Era, not... independent entrepreneurs like these people imagine it would go.
SubstantialFrivolity
I'm not even supposed to be here today
8hr ago
I see. Yeah I wasn't aware of that, so maybe my confusion is caused by having seen the manga without knowing.
Gaashk
8hr ago
I definitely doomscroll The Motte, and find it more addictive than social media.
The_Nybbler
In the game of roller derby, women aren't just the opposing team; they're the ball.
8hr ago
Hamas is not capable of that sort of surrender. There is no "emperor of Hamas" who will be listened to if he tells everyone to obey the Israelis.
thejdizzler
8hr ago
It's also quite difficult to use TheMotte in a way that encourages low effort. My best performing posts are ones I spend time on, which is usually a form of deep work. There really isn't enough content on here to doomscroll, and reading comments is actually usually pretty high energy.
We were made to go through a test and an interview with a psychologist when I started out as a management consultant as part of the onboarding process. They said I was ENTJ which fits well enough but the E wasn't very definitive.
Pretty much everyone they hired were NT, most E but with a pretty even split on P/J. Being NT seemed like a hiring requirement.
ToaKraka
Dislikes you
8hr ago
According to both English Wikipedia and Japanese Wikipedia, light novels may have some manga-style illustrations but are not full manga.
I'm not well acquainted with light novels, but Durarara was adapted from its original light-novel format to a manga as well as to an anime, so maybe you saw an image of the manga.
Primaprimaprima
...something all admit only "TRUMP", and the Trump Administration, can do.
8hr ago
Based on the descriptions, I'm more of a Four. (...and that's exactly what the test gave me, 4w3. That probably should really be 4w5 though, because I have rather idiosyncratic conceptions of "status" and "success" that probably don't line up with what the test authors had in mind.)
I think there's a difference between, do you like to categorize people because it's another interesting data point about how they work, or do you like to categorize people because you want to know the color of their soul.
Southkraut
The rain fell gentlier.
8hr ago
Yeah. "Have someone else take care of the aspects of my life I dislike while I double down on what I'm good at." probably describes a wide range of wishful thinking scenarios, political on both sides and otherwise.
SubstantialFrivolity
I'm not even supposed to be here today
8hr ago
I mean, I think Jojo sucks lol. So it could just be that it isn't for you. But it is fairly popular, so it's probably worth giving a shot up through part 3. That is where the show undergoes a significant transformation in formula, and becomes more or less what it will be for the rest of the series.
Going to take a bit of a different angle than most people: yes, agriculture is a highly intelligent system, one that outperforms all of humans, sophisticated numerical models, LLMs, and chimps in its niche.
It has its actuators (trucks, etc), and it has its neurons (individual humans and collections of humans). And a learning signal: prices (or, as a TD signal, profit). As a system, it manages to do things nothing else is capable of: no human or computer is smart enough to process all the information needed for it to succeed in its niche, and the individual humans are not organizing production and consumption so much as synapsing to other neurons based on the signals the system provides.
Asking if a combine is intelligent is like asking if a voltage differential across a membrane is intelligent. No, but the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
SubstantialFrivolity
I'm not even supposed to be here today
8hr ago
Can you explain? Because I've seen pictures of Durarara and it is most certainly a comic. It's panels of artwork with text bubbles and the like, just like manga. I can't tell a difference between the two, which is why I asked.
Capital_Room
rather dementor-like
8hr ago
No, but if a political system screws people like me or literally kills them, then I do not endorse it.
Well, that depends on how broadly or narrowly, and on which axes, you define "people like me." Because, with respect to my own political preferences, it "screws people like me" if you define that on terms like "people too disabled to work," but not if you define on terms like "Red Tribe Alaskans."
the_Culture_is_great
8hr ago
I don't care about the judgment of trailer trash - I care about the judgment of the "normal" people (which OP is presenting himself as) in each location.
I think the normal person in "methed up area" will have a harsher opinion on tattoos than a "normal" person in a large city. A couple of reasons:
- rural areas tend to be older and more conservative
- cities have more distinct subcultures that are both not-trash (to the typical PMC) and have frequent tattoos (e.g. LGBT folks are much more likely to be tattooed, and are not judged harshly by the PMC)
- the types of tattoos you'll see on people in the city are likely different, and on average will be more tasteful to PMC eyes
- more PMC people will know of "respectable" people who have a small tattoo that disappears under their white collar every day - there are fewer white collar "respectable" jobs in rural areas
I don't think the exact nature of judgement between cities and rural areas is central to my point though. My point is really just that local cultures differences exist, and so you can't make a blanket "Anyone who gets a tattoo is comfortable with associating themselves in this way".
Capital_Room
rather dementor-like
8hr ago
Well, I appreciate the honesty, but why would anyone join you on it?
Well, because probably the majority of people with similar views would benefit from it, for one — indeed, I've had fellow reactionaries argue that the mere fact of my disability means I "don't belong" on the right, despite our shared views; and that, per Spandrell's Bioleninism, my "only place" in politics is "on the Left, voting Dem in exchange for gibs" until the Reaction comes and disposes of subhumans like me.
ToaKraka
Dislikes you
8hr ago
can anyone explain to me the difference between manga and light novels? They seem the same, as they are both comics
SubstantialFrivolity
I'm not even supposed to be here today
8hr ago
I suppose I should add my own anime recommendations to the list. In no particular order:
K-On: 10/10
This is a series about high school girls who are in a rock band together. The personalities range from "very responsible" to "complete moron slacker", and a lot of the enjoyment comes from seeing how the different girls interact and handle the situations that come up. There is essentially zero plot to this show, which would normally bother me as a plot-centric person, but somehow works here. The closest to a plot is a general sense of the girls moving through their young lives - figuring out where to go to college, having to face the pain of saying goodbye to friends when they graduate, that sort of thing. It took me a bit to get into it as you need to get to know the characters some to fully enjoy it, but once I did it was a blast. Also one of the few shows to ever make me cry, which it somehow does every single time I watch one episode in particular.
As an aside - there's one part which I always found kind of bizarre, where the girls are on the beach and one of them feels embarrassed because she has bigger breasts than everyone else. @George_E_Hale, do you know if that's an actual thing for Japanese girls? I know you have boys and not girls, but thought you might have some insight. It was odd to me because as far as I know, American girls feel self-conscious if they have small breasts, not large ones. But maybe it's different over there, IDK.
Fullmetal Alchemist: 7/10
Note I don't mean Brotherhood here. I've seen that and rate it quite highly (9 or 10), but figured I would focus on the first anime adaptation. Overall it's not as good as Brotherhood, because about halfway through the series they caught up to the manga and had to figure out their own ending. Questions like the origin of the Homunculi and the nature of the alchemy gate play out very differently in this show. I generally prefer the manga author's vision (as seen in Brotherhood) for those plot elements, but this was still good. There are also various parts of the manga that were only adapted into this show, as Brotherhood chose to skip material that was in the first show unless it was critical to the plot. So that is another reason to watch the show, more fun adventures with the characters that you don't get otherwise.
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex: 9/10 first season, 8/10 second season
While the movie is good (as I argued in the WW thread this week), the show is better. Rather than trying to adapt the Puppet Master story again, the team wisely chose to write their own original story for this. Each season is divided into episodes which are self-contained plots, and episodes which are part of the story arc for that season. This structure works very well for the series, as it means they don't have to stretch the story arc too thin. It also means they can poke into more corners of the world even if they aren't strictly relevant to the main story. Overall I really enjoy the look at day to day operations for Section 9, and getting to know the characters better than you can with a 2-hour movie. It also has my favorite take on the GitS art style, and great music. Season 1 is overall stronger than 2, but both are good and worth watching.
Durarara: 7/10
Based on a light novel (side note: can anyone explain to me the difference between manga and light novels? They seem the same, as they are both comics), this series follows a huge cast of characters as they deal with gang warfare and paranormal activity in their corner of Tokyo. And when I say huge cast, I mean it. There are probably 20-30 characters in this story, all of whom get a decent amount of screen time over the course of the two seasons. The plot gets kind of messy and overly complicated at times, but it's a very fun show and the characters are a treat. There are real gems like Celty (a dullahan, as in the Irish mythical creature), who has lost her head and is working as a courier in the city while she tries to find it. Or Izaya, an info broker who loves to stir up shit just so he can see how people react, because he gets bored otherwise (and who is arguably the villain of the series, to the extent it has one). Or Simon, a black Russian who has landed in Tokyo running a sushi restaurant, and who is freakishly strong (he can throw refrigerators), but who is a devoted pacifist. And a lot more. The plot lets this one down at times, but it's still great fun and the music slaps.
Food Wars: 7/10
This show is one of the most ridiculous things I've ever seen. It's about a culinary school where disputes are settled with dramatic cooking duels, where everyone gets together in the school gym to see whose honor will prevail based on the votes of the judges. It's about a world where people's clothes fall off (mostly girls) when they taste food that is good enough, or people will imagine themselves being forcibly penetrated by squid tentacles as they eat a particularly nasty squid dish. It is not remotely serious or in good taste. But that's exactly why I love it. They go so over the top with the ridiculous premise that it loops back around from "stupid" to "actually hilarious" just by virtue of how hard they commit to the bit. Very fanservice-y, don't watch this one on public transport or anything. You also cannot try to take it seriously, you have to just enjoy it for the farce it is. Special props to the animators for making the food the star of the show, they know that a show focused on dramatic cooking needs to have delicious looking food and they deliver. Some of the recipes actually seem like they would work pretty well in real life, which supposedly is because the manga author worked with an actual chef to develop them and would even include recipes in each issue. I do think the show goes on one or two seasons too long, but it's great fun despite that.
Delicious In Dungeon: undetermined, not yet finished
This show is about a group of adventures who are too poor to afford provisions, so they plan to cook and eat monsters they find in the dungeon. I really wanted to watch this based on the premise alone, it sounded funny and I once DMed for a D&D campaign where my players did a very similar thing. What surprised and delighted me was that it turns out there's a plot, and it's pretty good (so far). I don't want to say much more than that, because for me discovering that was part of the joy. It's also incomplete, so it might not stay good. But possibly the highest praise I can give is this: the story gets so good that I seriously considered buying the manga just to see what happens next faster, and I hate reading manga. The fact that I was that eager for more speaks volumes, to me. I would definitely watch it, but can't really rate it just yet.
I'm a bit confused on where to get into Gundam
IMO:
-
Of the three core Universal Century series: The original Mobile Suit Gundam has intolerably bad animation; Zeta Gundam is peak; and Gundam ZZ insults the viewer by failing to become good until almost literally the halfway point (episode 23 of 47). But starting with Zeta Gundam while having zero knowledge of the background provided in MSG probably would be a bad idea. I dunno, maybe watch the MSG compilation movies, or play the MSG campaign in an emulated Dynasty Warriors Gundam game (which is how I got into the franchise, sans emulation).
-
Gundam X is pretty good.
-
G Gundam and Build Fighters aren't really the same genre as the rest of the franchise, but still are quite fun. (The other Build Fighters and Build Divers series are not nearly as fun, IMO.)
-
It's been a while since I tried watching Gundam Wing, Turn A Gundam ,Gundam SEED, and Gundam Iron-Blooded Orphans, but IIRC I didn't like them much.
Gaashk
8hr ago
I've heard of the Big 5 being used in management, but mostly as a hiring screen, to try not to hire people who are too low in conscientiousness. Which is of course a zero sum game, so not useful for society at large.
Corvos
8hr ago
I tried to make this, combining smartwatch data on heart rates and variability to detect energy levels and combining it with an LLM to generate useable recommendations.
It was surprisingly difficult for multiple reasons: your heart doesn’t differentiate between ‘low stress’ and ‘depressed heart rate because you’re recovering from a massive exertion’, or ‘high stress’ vs ‘happy drinking with friends’.
Then it was even harder to do anything with the data. Obviously LLMs don’t integrate with anything meaningful without lots of extra work and the moment you get into health they just start relying on the teams of feel-good bullshit in their training set. No, I would not like to do an hour of yoga followed by a gratitude exercise.
Capital_Room
rather dementor-like
8hr ago
I just think that saying "I can fire you for violating my values but you cannot fire me for violating yours" is not a sustainable situation.
Why not? There's plenty of expressions around this — like "rank hath its privileges," or "quod licet Jovi non licet bovi". A samurai could cut down a Japanese peasant who insulted him, but if the peasant was insulted by the samurai instead, said peasant had to just take it. Or consider, say, the Ottoman Empire in its heyday, and what would happen if a Christian or Jew publicly proclaimed something Islam considers blasphemous, versus if a Muslim publicly proclaimed something Christianity or Judaism consider blasphemous.
In fact, that latter pretty much describes why the situation actually is sustainable: because really it's "I can fire you for violating my values because my values are aligned with the Official Religion, but you cannot fire me for violating yours because your values are contrary to the Official Religion."
You had me questioning whether or not we watched the same show for a second there. Granted, it's been quite a while.
If you're talking about this, Hitomi's just being stupid about it, and this is a meme for a reason. Also, I hate to break this to you, but 14 year olds do know what lesbians are, and if the mere mention of [a character that age considers that a half-reasonable explanation in the absence of other evidence] is salacious pedo-bait then I really don't understand what wouldn't be.
What bosoms? Most of the girls are relatively flat; the only real exception to that is Mami, and I guess Sayaka's chestplate makes them look a bit bigger. As for the skirts, yes, drawing your attention to that part of the inner thigh is the reason people use that outfit.
Wait, you really think a 'sexuality' predicated on a lack of secondary sexual characteristics would be... enticed by outfits meant to accentuate them? That doesn't make much logical sense to me.
Instead, I think this is just your normal adult woman fetish being activated in a way you're uncomfortable with/not used to and being Very Concerned about it.
More options
Context Copy link